This artist took a selfie with her catcallers to make a powerful statement about everyday sexism

For many women, catcalling is an unpleasant but inevitable addition to daily life. However, this artist is taking a stand against men who shout sexist things to her in the street, with the power of the selfie.

Noa Jansma, a 20-year-old from Holland, took a picture with every man who catcalled her over the period of a month, and posted them to the Instagram account @dearcatcallers.

She writes of her motivations: “This Instagram has the aim to create awareness about the objectification of women in daily life.”

A post shared by dearcatcallers (@dearcatcallers) on Sep 27, 2017 at 12:58pm PDT

For Noa, this was an effort to turn the gender power balance on its head. She explains: “By making the selfie, both the objectifier and the object are assembled in one composition. Myself, as the object, standing in front of the catcallers represents the reversed power ratio which is caused by this project.”

Noa posted a startling 24 photographs during the month of the experiment, along with quotes of what the men said to her.

A post shared by dearcatcallers (@dearcatcallers) on Sep 14, 2017 at 9:28am PDT

The uncomfortable nature of these pictures reflects how women feel when they are catcalled by strange men on the street.

At the end of the allotted time, Noa again took to Instagram: “My month of posts has ended, but that doesn’t mean that catcallers are in the past as well.” She will be passing on the account @dearcatcallers to other women, “to show that it’s a global phenomenon”.

Noa finishes with the statement: “It has made clear that catcalling is a common occurrence that many of us are dealing with.”